To rally, equip and deploy Bay Area Youth to serve in the Kingdom of God as a Biblically-sharpened and spirit-filled positive influences to win souls for Jesus Christ through transformed lives.

Encounter Bay Camp is a Christian Summer Youth Camp with the purpose of preparing young people for the adversity they will face in their formative years to adulthood. The camp provides an environment to equip the youth with foundational teachings toward a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and to provide them wit a memorable and life-changing experience.

Encounter Bay Camp is a collaborative partnership of local Bay Area Christian churches that seeks to unite Bay Area youth in fellowship with Jesus Christ. The youth between the ages of 12-21 gather for a time of Biblical teachings, powerful praise and worship, and fellowship between like-minded believers in Christ Jesus.

Encounter Bay Camp is a time for young people to experience passionate praise and worship, form lasting friendships through fellowship with others, and learn how to deal with life challenges from a Biblical perspective, and gain spiritual refreshment, renewal and transformation through the Love of the Lord.

Encounter Bay Camp's purpose is to ground the youth in God's Word while inspiring them to live for Jesus Christ. The camp will feature powerful, relevant and entertaining messages that lead the youth to have a meaningful understanding of God in their lives, their relationships with family and friends, and to live lives rooted in faith in Jesus Christ. The camp will also include small group sessions to provide a more interactive setting to discuss what was learned and minister to each other in an atmosphere of prayer and meditation. In addition, workshops dealing with topics such as sexual purity, prayer, worship, family, and the power and influence of the media, will be presented to address specific needs of youth believers.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Rest and Find the Grace of God

Luke 2:40
And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

The verse says that the grace of God was upon Jesus.  The Bible also says that where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.  (Romans 5:20)  And when you put the two together, you may find yourself asking, "If the grace of God was upon Jesus, does it mean that He sinned?"

No, Jesus did not sin.  (2 Corinthians 5:21)  So there must be another explanation as to why God's grace was upon Jesus.  There must be another explanation as to why someone can abound in God's grace even when he has not sinned.

Let's look at the word "grace" when it is first mentioned in the Bible.  Genesis 6:8 says that "Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."  Noah's name means "rest".  So the verse is telling us that rest found grace.  In other words, when you rest,  you find grace!

So grace was upon Jesus because His life was the life of rest and trust in His Father.  He said, "The Son can do nothing of Himself.  he can do only what He sees His Father doing." (John 5:19)

Likewise, grace comes upon you when you rest and trust God.  If you have a wayward child, stop nagging at him/her and trust God to handle the problem.  Say, "Jesus, I commit this boy/girl into Your hands.  I cannot control him/her.  You can."  If you have a persistent pain in your body, bring it to the Lord.  Say, "Jesus, I hand all my worries about this pain to You.  You work on the pain."

What if nothing happens?

Honestly, if after you have given the matter to Jesus and nothing happens, what can you do?  If Jesus Himself can't do anything about it, do you think you can?  But praise God, once the problem is handed over to Jesus, He can and will do a perfect work of taking care of it for you!

So live a life of rest.  Have this attitude and tell the Lord, "I can do nothing of myself.  I just rest in You Lord and I trust You."  Beloved, what you will see is the grace of God upon you in every situation of your life!  Remember that we are no longer under the law...but we have the covering of grace...divine grace from God the Father!

God Loves You and I Love You!  Pastor Erwin

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